Cloris Leachman (born April 30, 1926) is an American actress.

Born in Des Moines, Iowa, she majored in drama at Northwestern University. Leachman began appearing on television and in films shortly following a run for Miss America as Miss Chicago in 1946.

Leachman has won numerous awards during her lengthy career. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1971's The Last Picture Show, based on the bestselling book by Larry McMurtry. She has also won five Emmy Awards for her work in television over the years, most notably as the character of Phyllis Lindstrom on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The character, which was arguably her most famous role in television, left Minneapolis in 1975 for a spinoff series, Phyllis. In 1986, she returned to television, replacing Charlotte Rae as den mother on The Facts of Life. Leachman's role, playing Rae's sister, Beverly Ann Stickle, proved to be largely unpopular, and the aging series was canceled two years later.

She was married for several years to Hollywood impresario George Englund, with whom she had four sons. The Englunds suffered the loss of one of their sons from a drug overdose in the 1970s. The couple have since divorced and Leachman has never remarried. Leachman and Englund maintained close friendships over the years with Marlon Brando, Burgess Meredith, and a myriad of Tinseltown's A list. Leachman and her ex-husband have five grandchildren.

Ms. Leachman is a longtime resident of Brentwood.

Selected Acting Credits - Film

• The Longest Yard (2005)
• Spanglish (2004)
• Bad Santa (2003)
• Iron Giant (1999)
• The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)
• History of the World, Part I (1981)
• The Muppet Movie (1979)
• High Anxiety (1978)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• The Last Picture Show (1971) - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Selected Acting Credits - Television

• Mary Tyler Moore Show and Phyllis as Phyllis Lindstrom
• The Facts of Life as Beverly Ann Stickle

External links

• Cloris Leachman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001458/) at the Internet Movie Database